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Groups Seek Emergency Order Against Dams to Protect Fish by Matthew Weaver Capital Press, October 15, 2025

The motion risks "plunging our region into crisis," said Kurt Miller,
executive director of the Northwest Public Power Association

Environmental and recreation groups represented by the Earthjustice law firm are seeking a preliminary injunction, asking a federal judge to order the government to take emergency measures to protect endangered salmon and steelhead from harms they say are caused by lower Snake and Columbia River dam operations.

"The motion we filed today requests the court to order federal agencies to take the most important, immediate and reasonable steps that are possible within the Columbia Basin's current hydropower operating system to ensure our Northwest salmon don't go extinct," Earthjustice attorney Amanda Goodin stated in a press release.

Dam advocates and river users say the measures the groups want "could spell disaster" for Pacific Northwest residents, meaning higher electricity costs and increased risk of blackouts.

What the groups want

The requested operational changes represent "science-based measures recommended by state and tribal fishery managers that change operations of the current Columbia Basin hydropower system to improve salmon survival as they migrate past dams and reservoirs in the Columbia and Snake rivers," according to Earthjustice's release

The groups' are asking for:

That spill be increased "to the maximum level that meets but does not exceed state water quality standards" at the four lower Columbia and four lower Snake River federal dams for the spring spill seasons.

• The restoration of summer spill at all eight dams to levels set in prior biological opinions for the entire summer spill season.

• Continuous 24-hour spill during the fall and winter spill seasons at all eight dams "through the operation of at least one spillway weir or other surface passage route."

• That reservoirs above the four lower Snake River dams be kept at minimum operating pool elevations with a one-foot operating range from March 1 through Aug. 31.

• That reservoirs above Bonneville, the Dalles and McNary dams be kept at minimum operating pool elevations with a 1.5-foot operating range from March 1 through Aug. 31.

• That the reservoir above the John Day Dam be kept at its minimum irrigation pool with a 1.5-foot operating range from March 1 through June 15, and minimum irrigation pool plus one foot, with a 1.5 foot operating range from June 16 through Aug. 31, beginning in 2026. Federal agencies would develop and submit to the court an implementation plan to operate the John Day reservoir at its minimum operating pool elevation with a 1.5-foot operating range from March 1 through Aug. 31

• That emergency conservation measures be implemented for several "deeply imperiled" populations.

Dam advocates and river users say the measures are unproven and will cost electricity users "hundreds of millions of dollars per year."

Increased spill is "scientifically unproven, counterproductive to real salmon recovery, extremely costly to electricity consumers and could spell disaster for our region's grid reliability," the Public Power Council said in a statement.

The motion risks "plunging our region into crisis," said Kurt Miller, executive director of the Northwest Public Power Association, in a statement.

"The potential consequences are clear: less clean energy; soaring costs for families, schools, farms and businesses and a genuine danger of blackouts, Miller stated. "The stakes could not be higher – every Northwest resident stands to lose. We believe that the governors of the two Pacific Northwest states are well-intentioned but misinformed, which is why we again urge them to meet with utility experts who can educate them about the dire implications of their actions."